


Haunted by Blood

by LilLostLady



Series: Haunted [2]
Category: Lost Boys (Movies)
Genre: Baking with Dwayne again, Betaed, Blood, Blood Drinking, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fear of Death, Half-Vampires, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Murder, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Phobias, Sequel, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2019-08-13 21:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16479860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilLostLady/pseuds/LilLostLady
Summary: Ten years have passed since Lily Emerson spent a memorable but horrifying summer with her grandmother, a lot has changed since then and recently she was reminded of how much she still feared death, making her choice had seemed easy then. Now with her father called to Santa Carla and taking her with him it may leave her wishing she'd chosen differently. Sequel to Haunted by Vampires.





	1. Author's Note

I usually don't (never actually) make chapters that are just author's notes but seeing as this is a sequel and I have so much to say I am doing it just this once.

First, I'd like to say that this is like I mentioned already a sequel. A sequel to my story 'Haunted by Vampires' and I'd recommend reading it first however within the first couple of chapters you get the gist of what happened previously, so you can start here or read this solo if you really want to. As the writer though I'd highly recommend reading 'Haunted by Vampires' if you want to read this.

So, for those of you unaware I took a vote after the first story on two fronts one being for what type of time skip if any, and the other being for a possible pairing. Now for the results from the voting on whether the sequel (this story) would be set right after, three years later, ten years later, or a mixture of all three are as follows:

All Three – 5, 10 years later – 15, 3 years later – 9, Right After - 4

The winner is: 10 years later!

I'm a bit shocked by the results, to be honest. Still, given that so many people reviewed and messaged me about this I finally decided on an idea that will hopefully satisfy most readers, as unfortunately, I can't please everyone.

That said I'm gonna go kinda off topic but not really and say that I'm a huge visual novel fan and they tend to have branching storylines. While doing a trilogy didn't win after this story concludes I will be doing another sequel to 'Haunted by Vampires' that let's say takes place in an alternate reality, so it'll not have any connection whatsoever to this story but also be a direct sequel to the first one. For those of you wanting a kid Lily and no romance that'll be the sequel for you but as this one won I'm doing it first.

Still, even with that future story, I've decided to have the first chapter of this story pick up right where the previous story ended for the few who wanted a right after sequel. After that, I will flash-forward ten years but there may be flashbacks at some point to kid Lily as well.

Now onto the second and final voting, we did: The pairing.

David – 4, Marko – 12, Paul – 4, Dwayne – 2, David & Marko – 1, David & Dwayne – 1, Marko & Paul – 1, All – 3

So, the winner is Marko by a landslide!

It's kinda neat how much love my favorite Lost Boy got, and he wasn't even in the previous story but maybe that's why he won?

Either way, I'm happy with it and who knows as a fan of branching storylines I may sometime in the future make another direct sequel to 'Haunted by Vampires' with a different pairing I suppose it all depends on whether I want to or if enough people want me to in the end.

Now that that's been said I would like to say one last thing,

Thank you for those of you who took the time to read this long ass author's note and for those of you who are returning to continue this journey that I started in 'Haunted by Vampires' and finally to those new readers I love you all.

Happy reading (and Halloween)

Lil Lost Lady.


	2. Return to The Lost Cave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Happy Halloween! Beta'd by exaigon.  
> 12/18/18 edit: I Finally figured out how to add notes on here ^^;

They hovered in the sky watching as the ambulance ride off into the distance taking their little sister with it. The flames had died down some now, but the air was filled with smoke.

"What now?" Dwayne asked their leader.

David didn't respond for a moment, watching as the ambulance vanished from view before turning his gaze on the brunette. "Now we go home."

"Sweet! Do you think my stash is still any good after all these years?" Paul asked flying off with them towards their home, their cave.

"Would it matter if it wasn't? You'd still smoke it," David stated matter-of-factly.

"Well, of course. No sense in wasting it… first though I should probably change," he said mournfully as he once again noticed the state of his wardrobe.

Patting at his jacket he mourned its loss. Over twenty years buried after he melted all over it. Yeah, it was a goner.

"Let's hope that the cave still has our spare clothes in it," Dwayne told him and the blonde rocker looked confused.

"Why wouldn't it?" Paul knew clothes could last a while based on his tie-dyed tee-shirts he'd kept from the 60s. Good time. Almost as good as the 80s. No scrap that, it was definitely better because he didn't spend the last two years of it incorporeal.

Getting back to the topic at hand, though. Why wouldn't he have clothes at the cave?

Just as the stoic dark-haired vampire was about to answer Paul gasped, "You don't think Marko threw away our stuff do you!?"

Of course! The little bugger was probably pissed that they left to avenge him and never came back. It'd be the perfect form of revenge!

Dwayne sighed, "He couldn't even if he wanted to."

"Oh yeah, that's right. He's probably all ghosty and invisible without anybody around to snack on." Paul nodded to himself.

"…Most likely. I just hope that no one else has wandered across and has been using our cave over the years."

At Dwayne's words Paul scoffed, "No way. They wouldn't dare."

Dwayne didn't bother to answer that. After they disappeared anyone who would have suspected that the cave belonged to them either thought they weren't returning or just plain had no idea who they were.

David was on the same wavelength. They were very likely forgotten and that pissed him off but it also brought forth some interesting scenarios. They would be taking back the boardwalk as their feeding ground and if any humans were in the way, they'd just make them disappear.

Santa Carla was going to be theirs again no doubt about it.

"Hey, there it is!" Paul pointed out the cliffs hosting their cave.

It was certainly a sight for sore eyes. Paul nearly teared up at just seeing it from the sky. He'd missed their musty old cave. Living in a house with an old lady was boring. Well okay, not living, but same difference in his humble opinion.

Landing, the group quickly took notice that their bikes, which they'd left there before flying off to end the Emerson family, were missing. Not surprising. They would have been shocked had they been there. Still it was an annoyance and one that would need to be rectified as soon as possible.

Right now, though David and the other two had their attention on another problem. A white van parked in the spot their bikes should be. Or at least it had been white at one time. Now it was covered in mud with peeling paint and there may have been some rust there too.

It, frankly, could've been sitting there abandoned for years but from the fresh human smell it was unlikely.

"Someone's here," David realized glancing towards the entrance to the cave.

"I hear three heartbeats," Dwayne added, his ears being the best of the four, or rather the three of them.

Paul was all for killing them. Not only were they trespassing in their territory, but who treated their ride, even if it was an awful one, in such a deplorable way?

Crossing the bridge, they noticed it was even more dangerous then it had been when they last saw it.

"What stupid humans would risk this?" Paul questioned eyeing the 'No Trespassing' and 'Condemned' signs. There seemed to be even more of them than he recalled. New ones? Well given their condition not that new but new to him all the same.

As soon as they entered they glanced around noting all the differences. It seemed nothing had been removed per say but the condition it was in meant a lot might have to be replaced. But a little cave decorating didn't bother them. All the weird electrical equipment laying around wasn't welcome and neither were the humans that brought it.

Two brunettes and a blonde. One was a woman and they were all young, probably early to mid-twenties if David had to guess. They seemed to be extremely focused on whatever it was they were doing. That's why they didn't realize they were no longer alone in the cave.

David thought they'd make a good appetizer if Marko was still hanging around. And if not, he would just have to gorge himself tonight.

"What are they doing?" Paul whispered watching one of the guys waving around a thing making a beeping noise.

Dwayne was pretty sure he'd seen something similar in a movie. What was it about? He couldn't recall. Star's choice in films left much to be desired so perhaps it was something he watched back when Max had his video store. They did entertain themselves often with the new releases back then.

The other two not waving the device around were at a computer, though it looked unlike any computer the vampires had ever laid eyes on. Both were deeply concentrated looking at some kind of footage. That's when David's mind made sense of what they were watching and his eyes started to roam his cave more intently. He didn't like what he saw. There were cameras placed all around it.

This would take a lot of time to clean up, maybe even more than the bodies would.

"Hey, you can't be here!" One of the soon to be dead humans shouted gaining all three of vampires' attention.

"Oh really?" David's gaze landed on the human. "Why's that?"

The speaking fleshbag got the other two human's attention and the second guy, who Paul dubbed as 'glasses' mentally, spoke up pompously, "This area is off limits."

"Really, didn't notice." David's voice was dripping with sarcasm, "in that case though you shouldn't be here either." His expression was flat but if they were paying attention to his eyes they would notice how dangerous their situation truly was.

Paul nodded in enthusiastic agreement while Dwayne just watched on in silence. The only woman of the group intervened by placing a hand on pompous glasses guy's chest to stop him from spouting off something stupid no doubt.

"We're here to do some important research." She gestured to the equipment around them, "As you can see we are professionals."

"Professors of what?" Paul asked dumbly.

Then woman corrected him like one would an infant, "Professionals not professors."

Her tone was insulting but Paul didn't pick up on it, or possibly didn't care, but David's eyes narrowed. His fellow vampire's lack of brain cells aside, he didn't care for others talking to one of his boys like that.

"But I though professors were professional?" Paul looked to Dwayne who shook his head.

The blonde pouted at his unanswered question and wondered if he should ask if he can eat them or not instead. It was probably a better question. Though he was full, he could make room for two or three more if he had too.

"What kind of professionals are you exactly?" David inquired.

"We don't have to answer uncouth, dirty, trespassers like yourselves!" Glasses stated loudly looking at their no doubt tattered stained wardrobe. Even their hair could probably use a good wash.

David ignored the jab at their unclean state. "Too ashamed to tell us you're here to hunt ghosts then?"

"Really? Ghost hunters?" Paul laughed and wondered if he should take offence to that like he would a vampire hunter. Probably.

The woman nodded, "You could call us that but we're really paranormal investigators."

"Same difference." Paul sneered, "Just like professional professors." It made perfect sense to him.

The other two ignored the blonde rocker, as they'd had plenty of practice, but the humans obviously thought he was a moron. The vampires didn't even need to read their minds to know the group's thoughts on the subject. Clearly, they saw themselves as having been highly educated people, above David and his boys.

If the way they looked at them as if they were homeless hobos, or the way the human's held themselves weren't enough indication of these thoughts, their words would've given them away, "There have been many stories about this place being haunted so naturally we came to see if the rumors had any substance. So please just leave. You're disturbing our readings."

"Rumors." David glanced at his boys. "That sounds like something he'd do."

"Yeah it does." Paul laughed and clapped his knee in mirth.

"Who- do you three know something about this?" The original guy who had been silent since he first spoke up asked in curiosity.

"I don't know. Dwayne do you know something about this?" The brunette shook his head not really one for this game but he played along anyway, "I don't. Paul do know something?"

Paul grinned, "I don't know. Do you know Marko?"

The cave went deadly quiet and just as glasses was about to yell at them for trying to mess with them a disembodied whisper of a voice answered, "Who wants to know?"

David smirked, "They want to know."

So, Marko was still here and watching them, good to know. He was really weak from what their leader could tell, though.

The vampires watched as 'glasses' scrambles for a recorder. The other man fumbled with the computer nervously while the woman eyed them suspiciously, "Is this some kind of joke?"

Instead of answering her, David just smiled with his teeth putting the woman on edge. It wasn't a friendly smile and some instinctual part of her was reading the danger in it and warning her to flee. She didn't listen to it.

"I think Marko's hungry," Dwayne hummed.

"You're probably right. Well come on then let's make sure he gets something to eat." David's face shifted first and the woman screamed in horror attracting the two human males' attention.

Paul and Dwayne's vampiric faces were on by the time all the human's eyes were watching them and soon the cave was filled with multiple screams.

When the screams died down moments later, Marko for, the most part, was both less hungry and stronger. But they still needed someone to give him blood willingly as whatever ritual Max had they weren't privy to. So they went with what they knew worked.

-

Lily blinked awake groggily. Her first thoughts were that it was too bright and too white… Her eyes hurt so the little girl squeezed them shut only to wince.

Her face hurt. Trying to lift her hand to touch her face didn't work right away because it felt heavy just like her head. Taking a minute to gather herself the brunette tilted her, now noticeably, pounding head to gaze downward while very slowly opening her eyes. Her right arm was covered in big bulky bandages.

Had she broken her arm? Lily didn't think so.

But what did a broken arm feel like? The girl wasn't sure. It hurt but was it broken? To be on the safe side she didn't move it.

Her head turned slowly to view her other arm. Aside from a few strips of bandages it appeared unharmed and didn't really hurt so she tried to move her fingers first to be extra careful.

Moving her left hand proved easier but still difficult as she shakily brought it to her face after what seemed like a long time. Near her eye was her end goal so the child touched the area beside said eye with her fingers. They came into contact with a bandage instead of skin.

Lily pressed on it a bit and winced. She knew she should keep the bandage on, but she wanted to feel her face so she started to pull on it as carefully as she could with one hand.

The brunette pulled at it until she succeeded at removing the annoying piece of cloth enough that it was left hanging to one side. Her fingers then wormed their way into the open portion of the bandage to touch her skin, only they hit something else. Upon further inspection of rubbing her fingers softly across it she realized that it must be stitches.

Lily'd never had any before now but that must be what it was. Why did her face have stitches and why was her arm maybe broken? Her head was clearing slightly as the minutes passed but it still hurt just like her sore throat. Was she sick too?

It took longer than she wanted but eventually the tired, hurt girl sat up in her white bed. Everything was equally white; the walls, the bed, her clothes, the floor even. It had to mean that she was at a hospital.

It took her a minute to see that someone was fast asleep in the chair across the room. He was familiar. It was her uncle Sam. Why was he here and not her parents?

That's when she remembered everything. Her ghosts, the blood, the monster... No…. monsters. Her friends were monsters… The fire and then what? A promise…? A present.

Looking down to her less injured arm she saw her hand was as empty as the other one.

Where was the blood?

Lily didn't want to think about the scary red stuff but that vial... It meant something, didn't it?

Why didn't she have it?

Did she drop it?

It hurt her that she might've lost it but if it was gone then she must have.

Lily thought hard about it before coming to the conclusion that her grandma could've taken it while she was asleep! That was when another scene flashed behind her eyes reminding her of a very important fact. Grandma Star was dead.

She was laying somewhere still, unmoving… Her grandma would never move ever again.

Just like her baby brother.

Her eyes clenched shut and a stab of pain flared beside the hurt eye. The girl ignored it in favor of trying to shut out the images.

It didn't work. Tears started to form and then fall. There was a stinging feeling then that helped her focus on the pain instead of the memories.

Opening her eyes again, they landed back on her uncle Sam who was still fast asleep unaware of the small girl's emotional plight.

Lily's eyes went to his coat and then to his coat pocket and without even thinking about what she was doing, the little girl was climbing out of bed. The floor was ice cold on her bare feet but that only made her less groggy and more aware as she travelled across the room to stand right before him.

Her less injured arm moved and then she found her hand inside of his left coat pocket while her eyes watched his face closely for any signs of wakefulness.

Seeing none she searched the deep pocket only to come up empty handed. Maybe she was wrong? Not giving up she retracted her hand determined to check his other side but stilled as he shifted. Seeing him remain asleep and breathing evenly, she used the same hand to check out his right pocket.

Lily's eyes widened a bit, making her wince in pain, before she pulled back along with her newly found treasure.

The vial.

It was hers, but uncle Sam had taken it.

This shouldn't have surprised her. Adults weren't to be trusted.

No one was… Not even her ghosts who might be alive now.

Looking at the vial of blood in her hand she wondered why she wanted it back so badly when it had come from them. They were bad, evil monsters. At least her grandma had said so. Even though she wanted to claim the woman a liar, she was dead and doing so felt wrong now.

David, Paul, Dwayne… they weren't really her friends…

Tears started to form again.

They left her alone. She stared at the vial. For some reason they also left her with this and that meant that it was hers, so uncle Sam didn't have the right to take it.

Just then she noticed him stirring and ran as fast as her injured and tired body could back to the bed and was back on it before he came to.

"Lily?" He looked over only to see she was still lying there peacefully sleeping. Or at least he thought she was.

Standing up, he stretched with a yawn, He looked at his watch and then back at the sleeping girl before deciding to go use the restroom all the while hoping that the kid would stay asleep until he came back. He didn't want her waking up all alone and getting frightened, but he really couldn't hold it any longer either.

Once she heard the door close her eyes opened and she raised her hand staring at the vial.

If he noticed it missing he'd blame her right away… She had to hide it, but where?

Lily looked around the plain white room. Her first thoughts were under the covers or the mattress but that was too easy. Her father always looked there first.

Then she looked to the windowsill. There was a planted daisy in a pot.

That would work.

Getting back up quickly, she put the vial in her bad hand once she arrived at the window and grabbed the potted flower with her good one. Then using one finger to poke a hole for the vial in the dirt she buried it with the same finger before replacing the potted flower on the window sill and rushing back to bed, careful not to let her dirty index finger touch any of the white around her.

Lily then used the inside of her pillowcase to clean it as best as she could upon cautiously climbing back into bed.

There. All the evidence was hidden. Now no one but her could find it!

For a moment she was proud of her ability to outwit the grownups, but the reality of the situation started to dawn on her again.

Lily was hurt both inside and out. They had abandoned her. Grandma Star was dead because of her and she knew that as soon as her dad got here things would only get worse.

Maybe her mom would come too… then things wouldn't seem so bad, right?

Mommy would make things better but right now her mommy wasn't here.

Hugging herself with her good arm she laid back down and curled up onto the too-white sheets and cried herself back to sleep.


	3. Ten Years Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everyone!  
> Beta'd by exaigon on Fanfiction.Net

Dark unfocused eyes blinked open slowly. It was blurry and white. Too bright and very white… it reminded her of a hospital.

Her eyes focused and looked away from the white tile ceiling to the walls. Oh, it was a hospital.

Lily hated hospitals.

But at least nothing hurt. Looking down through watery squinted eyes at her arms to see if the reason for that was drugs, she was surprised to find that it wasn't. She was unhurt. Well aside from her poor eyes suffering under the too bright lights. Odd… why was she here?

As if to answer her question, her hearing suddenly became much sharper and she could hear a voice talking; one unfamiliar, a doctor most likely, and the other her father.

"-and not a scratch on her she's certainly a lucky one."

"So, then she'll wake up soon?"

"Any time now. The police will, of course, want to question her before you can take her home, but I see no need to keep your daughter any longer than necessary."

"I see. Thank you doctor."

"Do you think she'll need counselling?" It was a woman's voice; her stepmother.

'She was probably disappointed to hear that I survived', Lily thought bitterly before catching onto the counselling bit. Last thing the teenager wanted was more adults trying to pry into her mind.

Her mind drifted.

"What are you drawing?" A shrug, "Do you enjoy drawing?" No response, what should she tell her? That she was just trying to keep busy in hopes that the hour would pass in peace and that the little girl would be left alone.

It didn't work. The only one left was her mother…

That thought had the memories flood back into her head.

Her mother. The car. Blood. Fire.

The car was on fire. Her mother was bleeding.

"Will you listen to me!" Her mother screamed and yanked out her earbud in frustration. "Why should I? You never listen to me!"

Lily turned away back towards the road but not in time.

"Look out!" She screamed. The car screeched then everything was loud and glass shattered around her. Her arm hurt. She needed to get out of the window! The house was on fire! Her grandmother's house was burning!

No, the car it was the car. Her grandmother wasn't moving.

No, her mom wasn't. She ran! No, Lily was stuck. She was upside down and the seatbelt wasn't budging no matter how much she pulled and clicked the buckle. Lily panicked, moving and squirming like a bug caught in a web.

Then her butterfly necklace smacked her in the face and a thought besides the 'I don't want to die' on repeat hit her.

That's right. Lily remembered all of it, the sheer panic she felt. The present and her past overlapping and making for a very dangerous and confusing event that was already traumatizing enough on its own.

Then there was the choice she made before eventually climbing out of the car, cut up with glass and legs on fire… the burning, the smell of burnt flesh that had her mind flashing back all the while she did her best to crawl away from the burning car, '…not a scratch on her' the doctor had said.

Lily knew that wasn't the case. Her hands should have new glass scars and if not her legs should not be unscathed.

But she had drunk the blood.

The vampire's blood.

The one she turned into a cute butterfly necklace with the tube as the body to keep it close at all times.

Lily had never been able to bring herself to throw it out despite learning what she had. Part of her really started to believe she'd make up bits and pieces of what had happened all those years ago. Vampires weren't real, the fire and massacre that occurred was the work of a serial killer like the police said, like the news has reported.

Because that made sense.

And it wasn't like Uncle Sam was around any longer to be able to tell her otherwise.

If she had made up the monsters in her mind then her mother's abandonment wouldn't hurt as much. After all, who wants a crazy daughter.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring them back. It was vampires!" Her words that day blurred together and mixed up and even she could not recall the exact wording right after they flew from her mouth but that was okay because surely it was alright to tell her mom.

Her mother would believe her. Her mom was always on Lily's side no matter what.

Except she wasn't. She didn't believe her. She left her… alone with her father and the police and eventually the counselors. Lily knew better than to tell her father anything even before she discovered that her mom had limits too.

The police only cared about her giving them a suspect, someone to hunt after… because she must have seen or heard something. They wanted justice. It was all they ever talked about, justice for the dead teenagers, for the living family members, and the closure they desperately needed. What about what Lily needed?

She needed her mom and for someone to believe her.

They would never have believed her. They'd have thought she was crazy like her mother.

No, she couldn't trust them. And the counselors would just be waiting for her to slip up.

She did have one person who would have believed her, but Uncle Sam was missing currently and she was pretty sure he was dead.

Still her uncle didn't really count considering that the man believed in aliens and, yes, vampires and ghost vampires might exist but she was not ready to expand her belief into the stars just yet.

Her ears picked up footsteps bringing her back to the situation at hand. The people were heading her way and she really did not wish to deal with them or anybody right now, so she closed her eyes and pretended to be unconscious.

The teenager had overheard many things this way and didn't doubt that would be the case this time as the three entered her hospital room to check on her.

"I was hoping she would be awake by now," her father's wife said.

'Sorry to inconvenience you,' Lily thought snidely.

"Yes, well anytime now. As you can see, she's doing just fine," the doctor replied.

"I should have never agreed to letting that woman try and reconnect with her," her father said and, for once, she agreed with him though it hadn't been the woman's fault. If Lily had been more cooperative, more responsive, then maybe the car wouldn't have crashed.

Lily had to fight to keep from tensing as she realized this. It was her fault. Again.

Grandma Star died because of her stupidity and her mother because of her stubbornness.

The teenager wasn't happy to realize the pattern here. Her flawed personality was actually deadly. Lily had hated her mother for so long but now she just felt guilty. She hadn't wanted her to die. Just like her grandmother, that's why she shouldn't have taken the blood.

Lily didn't want to be responsible for anyone's death. Before she could continue with such thoughts the other woman replied, "Oh honey it's not your fault."

Funny how her words could fit so well with Lily's own thoughts, but those words weren't meant to comfort her.

Her father sighed, "Yes, I know that but still…" He trailed off and she continued to coddle him, but Lily tuned it out.

That woman never once attempted to comfort her. No, she was only ever in her way. Storybook evil stepmother that woman was. At least it was mostly neglect which, in a way, was better as Lily wanted nothing from her anyway.

Listening to her was a kind of torture though. She was so fake and how her father couldn't see through it was beyond her. He was, despite everything, an intelligent person after all.

Deciding not to put it off any longer she opened her eyes and pretended to be just waking up.

It was as awful as she had suspected it would be.

-

Leaving the hospital was the worst yet because they insisted, despite her being able to walk just fine, that they wheelchair her outside… in broad daylight. Not that she was embarrassed; it was just so bright and she knew she could walk much faster than this.

Covering her eyes with her arm was the best that she was going to get but her head was now pounding, and her skin felt much too hot, like she would be getting a sunburn from just minutes of exposure.

"Lilian, what's wrong?" Her father's voice sounded worried. To be fair it was his default tone since she officially woke up.

Too tired to correct her name the girl instead wondered how should she answer that. What wasn't wrong? "Just too bright…"

At least it was the truth, just not the whole truth.

"Poor dear, don't worry your eyes will adjust," a fakely sweet voice cooed.

She was tempted to give her the finger but didn't have the strength to deal with the repercussions that would involve. So, she didn't.

Instead she merely half dozed and tried not to think about the police and their questioning and condolences.

It didn't work.

She had lied.

Not wanting to admit that she was the reason her mother's eyes weren't on the road and didn't see the overturned truck, she had said she had fallen asleep only to awaken as the car swerved and then when it came to a stop she crawled out and got as far away from it as she could before passing out.

It seemed like they believed her.

In fact, they even went into detail about how her mom died instantly during the crash and not the explosion that followed and how she would not have been able to help her. Also, they explained the other vehicle but Lily hadn't been paying attention at that point she just wanted to go to sleep for the next year and forget what had just happened.

The brunette still wanted that but even on the ride home her father insisted on keeping her awake and talking. Well, as much talking as she could do while being half asleep and half tense at being back in a car. At least she was in the backseat and too tired to truly freak out.

It occurred to her that she may have a car phobia now but that thought nearly made her laugh. Could a car crash even kill her now? Lily had no plans to find out.

At home they set her up on the couch instead of her room and her dad waited on her hand and foot for the rest of the day while his wife made herself scarce. It wasn't horrible, but she kept dozing off and couldn't really enjoy it.

Had she been more aware she doubted her guilt would have allowed for it either.

As soon as the sun set her chocolate eyes flew open and suddenly all the heavy sleepiness that held her hostage all day long was gone with the sun and, now, she was more awake than she had ever felt.

Unfortunately, that meant that she had to deal with what had happened and, of course, come to the realization of why it was that she was so awake. Was she like them now? A vampire? Lily wasn't sure, Uncle Sam barely got to tell her anything before his disappearance.

He left a comic book with her, but she figured she'd take it with a cup of salt as she felt a grain would be far too little it was a comic book after all. How accurate could it really be?

Not to mention she had not read it for years, it was probably still upstairs in the bottom of one of her junk drawers. Maybe she should re-read it…

"How are you feeling?" Her dad asked entering the room.

"…Tired." Not true. She had never felt more awake, but the teenager didn't want to talk to him and that was as good of an excuse as any.

He nodded and then handed over a cup commenting, "You've not eaten all day. You should at least try to drink something."

Lily took the cup and drank it, not bothering to see what it was or think that the last thing she had had to drink was vampire blood. It was apple juice.

"You know if you need to talk-"

Right then his cellphone rang and Lily raised an eyebrow and he looked between her and his phone as if he wasn't sure what to do. She knew better than to think that if it was between her or the damn phone that she would win. He apologized and said he'd be right back. Lily just waved him off. Answering the phone, he moved out of hearing range. At least he thought he had. Suddenly she could hear both him and the person on the other line as clear as day.

"-and I know this isn't the best time but that's the first real offer the lot has got, and they seemed very adamant about it," the voice on the other side of the phone said. She should not be able to hear this conversation but somehow, she could.

"Yes, you're right on both counts but this isn't the time. We've been trying for years to sell that property." Her father sounded both frustrated and happy at a possible sell.

"What do you want me to tell them?"

"Tell them I'll call them back first thing in the morning to discuss the property."

"I'm afraid they said they would be unavailable to take any calls then."

"The afternoon then? Say one o' clock?"

"Afraid then won't work either. They gave very specific instructions. If you can't call them about the property tonight then they will wait one more night and inquire elsewhere."

Her father seemed stumped by these potential buyers, but he'd had weird and eccentric ones before, so Lily doubted it would put him off too much. Before she could hear any more her hearing was back to normal. She tried to tune back into it to find out what her father's answer would be, but it was no use. The same thing had happened in the hospital hadn't it?

Well if super hearing that could turn off and on at random times was the only side effect of her rash decision Lily supposed she could deal.

Not even a second after her having the thought she smelled something new, and it smelled delicious. Unlike anything she had ever smelt before. Without thinking Lily got up and followed it past the kitchen, strangely enough, and she vaguely realized that her dad must have stepped out as he was no longer in there.

Following the smell lead her to a room that she avoided like the plague for very personal reasons. It was the door leading to her half-brother's room. She refused to accept any baby brother other than her first one and he was dead…

The thought was enough to pull her out of whatever trance it was that made her follow the scent. Her baby brother was usually a very sobering thought so that wasn't surprising. What was surprising was the smell still coming from the room.

Lily needed to figure out what it was. She opened the door and found nothing out of the ordinary, just the little boy fast asleep. There was no food or drink anywhere in sight, which made sense as he was sleeping so why would there be? Not to mention his mom would never allow him even a snack outside of the kitchen. The scent was stronger now though, so something had to be in here.

Curiosity won out making her enter a room she had not set foot in since she was as young as the sleeping child in front of her. Her nose lead her to the toddler's bed and she looked down at him in confusion as a horrifying realization hit the teenager.

The smell was him.

The sleeping boy in front of her.

He smelt like food to her.

Lily was out of the room faster than she even knew she was capable of and through the doors to her bathroom before kneeling in front of her toilet and throwing up her apple juice from before.

Afterwards she sat dry heaving for a moment before finally calming down only to notice the tears flowing down her face.

Lily was terrified.

Maybe dying would have been better.


	4. To Grandmother's House We Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to post this last weekend on this site so I'm double posting for this story today so enjoy it probably won't happen again.  
> Beta'd by exaigon over on Fanfiction.Net

Something was shaking her but she just rolled away from the offending thing trying to force her away from her blissful sleep. For once, no nightmares or even dreams plagued her so she wanted to stay.

However, someone else had other plans.

"Lilian get up right this instant!"

Bright light streamed into her room. The curtains had been pulled open much to the teenager's frustration.

Groaning, the girl reached with her eyes clenched tightly shut in search of her covers only to find that the demon woman had taken them from her, just like her headphones.

Now she had to listen to the harpy's voice and deal with the sunlight.

Throwing her arm back over her eyes helped very little as the woman ranted, "I swear your brother isn't nearly this difficult to wake up and he's only three for goodness sake."

"Step-brother..." Lily muttered but the woman, her step-mother, continued to rant not having heard her. "I know the doctor's said that it was normal to use sleeping as a way to cope with the situation but honestly, you can't spend every day in bed for the rest of your life Lilian!"

Still laying motionless with her arm still covering her eyes she replied, "Watch me." If she had it her way she'd never leave bed again even with most nights being filled with nightmares. "And it's Lily," she said as an afterthought knowing that the harpy wouldn't listen.

Lily hated this woman and it had nothing to do with the way she insisted she get out of bed each day. It was her blatant disregard for the teenager and also the way she phrased things. Things like 'the situation', not the way she'd phrase her mother's death... the car accident that Lily herself had barely survived two weeks previous.

The woman sighed as she stared down at her disobedient step-daughter. The two had never clicked even before the issues revolving around the girl's mother. Before the situation got so bad that the woman upped and died, the teenager had mostly just gone out of her way to stay out of the woman's hair.

Sometimes she wished that the stupid girl had just died with her mother. As awful as that sounded, her step-mother knew this young lady had no future.

Her attempts were pointless because the girl was barely passing school, had no friends, had probably been depressed since that incident with her grandmother and was now on a downward spiral and refused to get out of bed most days and barely ate when she did.

"It's high time you realize something young lady. You are legally an adult."

Lily snorted.

"At your age people don't care that you've got problems and if you want a life you'll get over them, or at least pretend to, so that you can survive."

"You mean you don't care, isn't that right?" She snarked sleepily.

Sighing and rubbing her forehead hoping that this teenager wasn't giving her early wrinkles, she spoke bluntly, "Your father wants you downstairs by three. It's after two now."

Lily rolled away from her, intent on trying to sleep when the harpy added, "Maybe he was right about this trip being good for you but all that matters to me is that you're out of my hair for the next week and somebody else's problem."

The door slammed and Lily groaned.

"...Right. A week in Santa Carla... I forgot."

Her dad was in the real estate business so, of course, given that he inherited the land and what was left of the house grandma lived in, he'd obviously, once things 'blew' over, wanted to sell it.

A couple of weeks ago he was contacted by someone interested in looking at the property so, lucky her, she was going back to grandmother's house, or whatever had become of it.

It took way more energy to push herself up in bed than it should have but she did it while squinting as her newly opened eyes teared up. "Too bright..."

Reaching for her sunglasses on her dresser, the teenager quickly snatched them up and shoved them onto her face.

"Much better..."

Yawning, Lily threw her legs over the side of her bed and felt something soft that was not her hardwood floor.

"There's were she put you..." Lily mumbled to her blanket before reaching down to the floor to grab it. "You don't belong there."

Dropping it back on her bed she stood up unsteadily. "Wish I could join you," she told the sheet, "but I got a date with a nightmarish demon and I don't mean Donna the step-harpy, but the past."

Yeah, her past was even worse than the she-demon that married her dad and she really hated that woman.

Stretching, she clumsily walked over to the curtains and pulled them shut.

It was going to be awful being cooped up in a car with windows letting in those rays, she thought while glancing around her room for her water bottle. Finding it on the floor, she grabbed it only to find that it was empty.

"Oh well, probably wouldn't help anyway."

Tossing it back onto the floor she went to the door opposite of her closet that lead to her bathroom. Almost on autopilot she brushed her teeth and then her hair, the latter of which taking longer due to all the tangles it had acquired from laying around for a couple of days without brushing it. Lily was surprised that her hair didn't kill her brush to be perfectly honest. Must be sturdier than she thought.

That done, she filled up the glass beside the sink and chugged down the water quickly to try and ease her throat. Slamming down the glass with just enough force to keep from breaking it but clearly showing her frustration, Lily looked up into her reflection in the mirror or what she could see of it in the darkened room.

"Didn't help... just like I thought."

Touching the mirror, she sighed sadly. There was a reason Lily didn't turn on the light anymore and it wasn't due to her depressing state. Well okay, it kind of was.

Two weeks ago, her life had changed forever and now she was dealing with the consequences...

The thirst which aggravated her throat.

The hunger which caused her some of the worst stomach cramps she'd ever had the displeasure of feeling.

The aversion to sunlight because it fucking stung her eyes like she'd spent hours cutting the worst kind of onion.

Her constant tiredness during the day and burst of energy at night.

And lastly, the see-through reflection in mirrors which would've been a problem if she hadn't all but isolated herself in her own room since that day.

Lily wasn't an idiot. She knew what was happening.

Her birthday was two weeks ago, and her mother insisted on a mother/daughter bonding day. Lily hadn't wanted anything to do with it... with her mother, and made that no secret.

It wasn't like she hated the woman, her mother. She hadn't wanted her dead... but her actions had led to that happening. It was her grandmother all over again.

Looking away from her reflection, Lily's shoulders sagged and her body slid to the floor while her hand grasped her chest only to find it void of the necklace that she had worn for over half of her life.

Lily had turned the vial gifted to her all those years ago by those creatures into a necklace. The vial was used as the body and from there she'd created and crafted the wings onto it herself... it became a butterfly.

Never once did she think about opening it. The blood inside had power... a dangerous kind, one that she knew about from her uncle Sam before his disappearance which she had suspicions about.

Lily knew the blood would change her and she didn't want to change. She was fine with being human, being vulnerable, but until that day she had convinced herself that she had also had a very long life ahead of herself.

Then she took the trip with her mother and realized how wrong her assumption was. In her panic with her dead mother beside her and the flames bringing flashbacks of that night at her grandmother's, she drank it.

Shaking those thoughts away, Lily grabbed onto the sink's counter and hauled herself back up. This wasn't the time to be thinking such things. No, she needed a shower to get ready for the hours ahead of her. The hours spent inside of a car, her mind supplied unhelpfully. Taking a deep breath, she slowly let herself exhale.

"It's fine, it's fine. You're fine, Lily. Something like a simple car accident can't kill you now... I hope."

Shaking her head again she brought her hands to her face and slapped her cheeks.

"Right. Shower now, scary thoughts never."

That pep talk said, she stripped and turned on her shower before jumping in, not caring too wait until the water warmed up. Cold water felt warmer to her now than it used to anyway for some reason.

-

After showering and dressing in a casual Disney Lion King shirt with a Simba hoodie attached and some jean shorts, she made sure to put on her sunglasses as well as pack a spare set along with her clothes, cellphone, toiletries, and headphones.

She was good to go.

Downstairs her father was impatiently tapping his foot and looking at his watch.

"There you are! I was just about to come get you. Come on now, we're already fifteen minutes behind schedule."

Rolling her eyes behind her shades, she followed. Though, when the door opened revealing the sun she nearly backed up. Why the heck was it so bright today of all days?

Well it was spring but still.

Where were all those spring showers, huh? She thought grumpily before stepping out into the harsh rays.

Very quickly, she headed for the car and opened the back door throwing her bag in before jumping in after it. It wasn't much protection from those harmful UV rays but it was better than nothing.

"You could sit up front you know? Your mom's not coming," her dad told her while getting himself situated up front.

"Step-mom." Before he can retort she continued, "I'm good back here thanks."

It felt safer, or at least different, than when she was in the car with her mom. She'd been in the front passenger seat then.

"Okay." He started up the car as Lily pulled out her headphones from her bag and plugged them into her phone. She nearly put the earbuds in when she noticed they weren't moving. Looking up, she saw her dad's head turned, his eyes gazing at her worriedly.

"I know we're in a hurry but if you'd like to say bye to Danny I could-"

"I'm good."

Putting her earbuds in she didn't hear him sigh, but she did hear his next words.

"He's your little brother and he's worried about you."

Not looking away from her phone, she found her playlist and hit play while hitting the button on the side to turn the volume all the way to max. The car started moving while rock music played loudly in her ears. The words couldn't reach her though, as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

"...My little brother's dead."

She was unsure how loudly it came out, but she didn't hear herself say it or hear his reply if he even gave one.

Next thing the teenager knew she was drifting off to sleep. It wasn't as peaceful as the previous one, this one was filled with memories; memories of her mother mostly and not the few pleasant ones either.

-

Someone was shaking her awake again!

Lily shoved the hands away telling them to 'buzz off' but probably not that politely if the way she felt her earbuds being pulled out was any indication.

"Lilian, I didn't raise you to be a vulgar young woman."

"You didn't raise me," was out of her mouth before she could even think to censor herself.

Hands ripped off her sunglasses then and she hissed, "Give those back!"

"Not until you speak to me with the respect I deserve," Chris growled at his teenage daughter fuming. "I woke you up to tell you this is our last stop before Santa Carla so go use the restroom if you need to."

That said, he slammed the door making the girl wince. "Okay shouldn't have said that..."

Not that she felt he didn't deserve it for all but abandoning her when she was hurting to woo his at the time lover who was now the harpy goddess herself. Yeah, she had some deep-seated family issues. Who didn't?

Reaching over, she unzipped her bag and took out her second pair of glasses grateful for thinking ahead. Slipping them onto her face, she stared out the window. She didn't need to go to the bathroom but maybe a snack?

Reaching for the door handle she paused. Was this a bad idea? Even at home sometimes her family's heartbeats bothered her and made her want to... No, don't think it.

Grabbing the handle and pushing open the door, Lily stepped outside and closed it. Too late to change her mind now. Looking around the gas station she could tell it was one of the dumpier ones, but that didn't mean their chips and smoothies would be any different from any other gas stations.

Heading inside, the door made a ringing noise and she barely withheld her wince as her eyes gazed up to see the tiny silver bell tied to the top of it. That should not have been that loud. Really, that was her first clue and she should've heeded it for the warning that it was, but she was a teenager and careful was not in her vocabulary.

Walking down the isles she found the chips and debated over the type to buy. Sour cream and onion or perhaps Cheetos? Was she feeling in the mood for cheese? Her dark eyes shifted over to the Pringles then.

"Choices, choices..." She whispered, all the while not really feeling any of them.

Still, she eventually reached for the pizza flavored Pringles. They were her favorite but then again tomato and cheese-based products always were even if it was just artificial flavoring.

That settled, she moved to the smoothies but only saw a sign for slushies.

"Basically the same thing," she shrugged to herself.

The blue one was her usual preference when she was little due to the fascination with turning her mouth, lips, and tongue blue that had her favoring it over all others. But since then she'd just developed a taste for it. Right now, her eyes were being drawn to the cherry flavored red one for some reason. Strange because she didn't really like cherry. Strawberry sure, but cherry, not really.

Watching it for a moment longer Lily decided to go for it as it was the closest thing to a craving she'd felt for food in a while. As she was grabbing a cup to get her drink, another person came over. A quick glance told that it was not her dad or the person behind the counter.

Another customer.

Nothing unusual except as she brought the cup underneath the machine she suddenly found her eyes drawn to the person beside her getting the Blue Raspberry. Slowly, her hand grabbed the lever for the cherry slushy, but her eyes weren't on the liquid pouring out, they were watching the person's neck.

Lily could see their pulsing vein and her mouth watered. She licked her lips in a daze. She didn't even hear the person asking her if she was alright. It was only when they were about to touch her that something cold and wet startled her enough to wake her from her sudden state causing her to jerk back from their touch.

Looking at her hand she saw the cherry flavored drink had overflowed and was running down her hand.

"Are you alright miss?"

Her eyes shot back to the person who she could now clearly tell was a woman, perhaps in her thirties.

Not a slushy or any other kind of food or drink.

A human.

One that she was tempted, just seconds ago, to pounce on.

"Miss?"

Letting go of the drink and leaving it under the machine she quickly darted away, dropping the can of pringles on the nearest shelf as she fled.

Food couldn't help her.

Lily feared nothing could.

Running back to the car and past her waiting father, she quickly climbed into the backseat and was in the midst of having a full-blown panic attack when the backdoor opened again and her dad was there talking to her. She couldn't hear him over his own pulse.

Closing her eyes, she smashed her hands, one still covered in red slushy liquid, over her ears in an effort to drown it all out. It didn't help because he was trying to hug her, to comfort her, to remove her hands.

No! Why is he doing that!?

Go away! Go away!

"Go away!"

She was not aware that she was now screaming her thoughts out loud or that she had gotten both the store clerk's and the woman's she was tempted to eat attention.

Eventually, her dad did back off and, in a display of brilliance, grabbed her headphones which were still blaring some rock songs and managed to pull her hands away to put in the earbuds.

The sound of loud rock music filled her ears and everything else faded away. Calming down, her tear stained face glanced up at her father's worried one. After a few minutes of getting her situated in the backseat he talked to the two concerned citizens about her and she watched from the backseat window. With the door closed and her headphones on she couldn't hear him, but she knew what he was saying.

He was explaining how she got traumatized after losing her mother so recently to a car accident, one which she survived. The doctor said she had survivor's guilt but that wasn't it at all... Lily had wanted to survive no matter what.

And she did.

No, what was bothering her was more than that.

Her only guilt, in regards to her mother, is that the accident had been a by product of her own actions. So yes, she felt like, in a way, she killed her mother.

Leaning her head against the window she watched their sympathetic expressions and sighed.

She didn't want them to pity her. She'd made her choice to live and she didn't regret it. Not yet anyway. But what if this never stopped? If it kept getting worse?

How long was loud music going to drown out the sound of her family's or even innocent bystanders' heartbeats?

Lily knew she could deal with the stomach cramps she was a girl after all. Even if it was way worse than period cramps she figured her body was built to withstand it better. So yeah, she could deal.

That aside, her throat felt like sandpaper on a good day... Today was not a good day.

Lily's eyes watered behind her sunglasses but she didn't let her tears fall. Not again. She had to try and preserve her fluids and crying wouldn't help her. It might make her thirstier and it would absolutely wreck her throat... it probably already did.

Closing her eyes, she willed herself to try and get some sleep. With the sun out it should be easy but for once it wasn't.

She felt the car moving again but didn't open her eyes. It hurt to breathe right now.

Would drinking the blood ultimately kill her anyways?

It seemed like it.


	5. Bunny or Lion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by exaigon over on Fanfiction.Net

Lily was beyond grateful when her father decided to drop her off at the hotel to rest while he went up to the property. Well, she was at first. Being left alone in an unfamiliar room with her sense of hearing on the fritz was bad enough but her sense of smell, which had not been causing her too much of a concern aside from her first night back home from the hospital, was choosing now to really overdo it.

That meant the hotel room's various scents were not helping her sun-headache, which was most definitely a thing.

Rubbing her temple and trying to ignore the talking from what was likely the room beside hers, Lily dropped her overnight bag and got to work on closing the curtains and taking care of the mirrors. If she was going to be in the same room as her dad, then that was a must.

No matter how much she just wanted to curl up on the bed housing way too many different people scent and sleep the year away.

Of course, as she was dismantling and moving the mirrors into the closet it occurred to her that, even more troublesome than her reflection, was the fact that she would be in the other bed across from her dad at night... when she couldn't sleep and her senses were at their best.

It was only for the weekend. Surely, she could manage it?

Headache worse now, she crawled into bed and all but passed out.

Her dark eyes opened hours later and she knew the sun had set given her new found sense of wakefulness.

Sitting up, she looked around the dark room. Her throat aside she felt alright. No headache, no cramps, and no overly sensitive senses. It was the best she could hope for really.

Having not bothered with the covers before sleeping she easily slipped out of the bed and went over to her bag to pull out her cellphone. No missed calls so her dad was probably still working.

That meant she could either watch whatever crappy TV channels this place had available for their guests or she could chance leaving the room and risk another episode from earlier, thus, endangering not only herself but someone else.

Lily knew what the right choice was. She should be careful and keep herself locked up inside like she had been doing at home but... she didn't want to.

It wasn't like she wanted to go out and look for trouble, or worse yet socialize, with people who might unfortunately become her dinner if she wasn't careful. No, all she wanted was to not spend the night cramped up in this hotel room waiting for her dad, only to repeat the process tomorrow, albeit with more food. It was strange that he'd not stopped by with some throughout the day but, well, he was the type to get absorbed in his work.

With that in mind Lily grabbed her money from her bag and pocketed it along with her phone and the room key before pulling her Simba hoodie down from where she must've unconsciously pulled it up in her sleep and left the room. No real destination in mind but not planning on leaving the general area either.

That, and not her stomach, is what lead her to looking for a vending machine.

She didn't find any in her quick scan of the outside of the building but she did see one in the main building area with a sleepy looking clerk at the cash register. Lily herself was dead on her feet when they arrived so she was unsure if it was the same one from then but she waved anyway to be polite and got a wave in return before turning her attention to the vending machine.

The choices left a lot to be desired. It was all knock off brands of things she never even really ate. So she ended up picking the number for the animal crackers before moving on to the drink machine hoping for a better selection.

Lily was disappointed there as well, not only with the flavors but also the price. Her hand lingered over the button for the water bottle wondering if it was worth it as it wouldn't clench her thirst anyway. If she thought it would no price would've been too outrageous.

"Three dollars for one bottle of water, it's crazy right?"

Startled, she looked to her left to see a grinning boy around the same height as her. He looked to be around her age as well, give or take a couple of years. His colorful jacket was only dampened by his cheerful looking expression. It was like the other didn't have a care in the world.

His blonde curls bounced as he moved in place clearly having too much energy to stay still. All in all he was cute and seemed friendly. Which was further apparent when he stuck out his fingerless black gloved hand in a greeting, "Oh I'm Marko by the way, nice to finally meet you."

Lily blinked at him in confusion. The 'finally' sounded weird to her, like he hadn't said it. But it was his voice even if his lips didn't move with the words. It was like that part was inside of her head. But that wasn't possible.

Not wanting to be rude, and taken off guard by his friendliness, she reached for his hand, "Yeah... you too."

As soon as their hands connected, she felt a familiarity with him and wondered what in the world was going on with her. So far all of the side-effects more or less made sense. Was this a side-effect?

He dropped her hand first making her aware that she had zoned out while holding it and had to fight down a blush, because talk about embarrassing.

"Sooo," he dragged out the word playfully, "like I was saying, overpriced. There's a gas station in walking distance that sells them for a half the price. Still too much in my opinion but what can you do?"

He shruggged.

"Hm, right okay... Thanks, I guess."

Was there anything else to say? He looked like he was expecting more but, friendly or not, she wasn't going to walk anywhere with him if that's what he meant.

"I wasn't really thirsty anyway." Good thing she wasn't Pinocchio given how big a lie that was. She probably wouldn't be able to fit in the room any longer.

His expression didn't change but something in his eyes did for a split second. It was almost like he knew she was lying when he spoke next, "Hm if you say so... by the way I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, it's Lily."

"That's short for Lillian, right?" It was said with mirth, like he knew she hated her full name, but if he didn't the face she made gave him a hint and he laughed, "Okay just Lily it is."

"Yeah call me anything else and I'll call you Marco Polo," She threatened, getting an odd sense of déjà vu at her words.

He raised his hands in surrender, "Got it."

What was with that sense of familiarity? It was the second time but also completely different. Choosing to think more on it later she said, "Well it was nice to discuss the topic of over priced water with you but I've gotta get back before my dad starts to worry."

He grinned, "Sure, let's talk about it again sometime when your dad's not waiting."

She raised an eyebrow. "About the price of water?"

Marko shrugged, "Well if you really wanna, I'm not against it but I'm sure we'll find another topic to occupy our time."

"Like the price of hair care products?" Lily joked, and his grin widened in response.

"Yeah maybe. Well, you better get back to your dad now wouldn't want him to come looking for you."

"...Yeah." Lily waved and, without a backwards glance, left the main building and hurried back to her room while wondering why she got the vibe that he knew she was lying about her dad waiting for her. Arriving back to the room, the teen noticed that her dad's car wasn't parked outside yet. Sure the girl hadn't been gone for more than half an hour but she was hoping he'd be back by now.

No that's not true. She didn't want him to come back and have to use her half-ass lie about the mirrors or struggle to not attack him all night. Still, that didn't mean that she wasn't worried about why he was taking so long.

Going inside and seeing that it was still undisturbed, she curled up on the armchair in the corner and opened up her packet of animal crackers absentmindedly munching on them in the dark until the bag was empty.

Tilting her head back, she poured the remaining crumbs into her mouth before discarding the bag and reaching into her pocket to check her phone again. Still no messages. The time read just after nine, not that late, but also later than her dad normally stayed out. He was an early to bed early to wake kind of guy.

Staring at the screen for a full minute and willing it to ring did not hail any results so the teen pulled up her contacts, something she didn't like to do given the list inside.

Just looking at her list was depressing and not just because of the size of it.

Absent Parent

Bad Parent

Counsellor Wants My Money

Step-Harpy

Her finger lingered over the first one, her mom's number. Well, the nickname was now truer than she ever wanted it to be. She should delete it but instead of clicking on it and doing so she pushed down on the second contact number, her dad.

Then she pushed the speaker button. Having nearly deafened herself the last time she held it to her ear when her hearing decided to act up, she decided this was the safest alternative.

It rang and rang until the answering message picked up and instead of listening to her dad's business-like tone and words she hung up and texted him instead.

'Hey dad, isn't it nearly your bedtime? If you're out cheating on your darling wife, I won't judge but you could let me know that I need to fend for myself. A girl could starve waiting on you.'

She smirked before clicking send.

Busy or not he'd find somewhere private enough to tell her off for that cheating comment. No way he could ignore it even if he was avoiding her because of her earlier 'episode' which was a strong possibility.

Now she'd just have to wait for him to check his texts, that shouldn't take too long.

-

Marko landed in a familiar yard and casually strolled up the front porch. It was the most intact part of the house.

The house itself should have probably been condemned and knocked down but there were still main support beams holding the more fragile bits. The front door had fallen in and so the blonde just walked on in through the dusty hallway and into the living room; the worst part of the house or what was left of it.

No furniture survived the fire. There was ash and soot but mostly with time and the weather it had painted the walls and floor black. He was kicking up a lot less than the last time he'd been here what seven or eight years ago? Marko couldn't be sure but it hardly mattered.

In the dirty and darkened room the others were waiting for him, along with a new piece of furniture that stuck out like a sore thumb. A simple wooden chair with an unconscious man tied to it.

"Well how'd it go?" David asked taking a drag of his cigarette. He probably smoked more now after having had so many years of being unable to, but Marko understood completely. Not being able to feel anything, to feed, for so long had made him appreciate it all the more as well.

He just knew he could only indulge so much before gaining unwanted attention. It was unfortunate.

"It's like you said, two weeks in and she's still fighting it which would be commendable if it wasn't so annoying."

David said nothing to this and Dwayne looked thoughtful while Paul pulled apart what he could of his meeting with her from the other blonde's head.

"So she's still got a thing for animal hoodies. That's cute," he snickered.

"...Does she remind you of Star," David paused before adding, "Or Michael?"

"Hm well I guess she looks a bit like Star, the eyes and hair mostly. Can't say Michael was ever that cute so no to her reminding me of him."

David frowned but Marko continued before his leader lost his patience, "She seemed like she could be fun if she wasn't so cautious around me... Made sure to mention her dad was waiting for her and everything."

Paul snickered, "Guess she saw through your friendly face huh?"

Marko snorted, "I doubt it. More like she was being careful because she didn't know me."

He knew he had the perfect happy innocent face and demeanor and he had years of practice behind him. No way she saw through him.

Just then a beeping echoed across the room.

"What the hell is that?" Paul asked looking around warily.

"Sounds like a text message dummy." Marko teased and Paul glared.

"I knew that!"

Dwayne pulled out a cell phone and Paul eyed him, "When did you get one of those?"

"I didn't. It's our guests," he told them before checking the message.

Whatever it said must've been funny because it made the usually stoic vampire crack a smile.

"Who is it from?" David asked.

Dwayne handed the bleach blonde the phone in response and he read the message and smirked.

"She may be even more amusing now than when she was a child," David told them before pocketing the device.

"Who? What'd it say?" Paul questioned.

"If it's our guest's phone then it was probably from his daughter," Marko looked at said guest, "So is she wondering where he is yet?"

"Can't be too worried if she's making jokes," Dwayne commented and Paul tried to get into their minds to find out what the message said. Marko figured it would be easier to wait until they weren't thinking about it and then he'd pry it out or just snatch up the phone when they weren't paying any attention to it.

No, his interest was on the man tied to the chair.

Michael's son. If David had asked about his opinion in regards to this man it would also be that he took more after Star in looks, but only time would tell who's personality he got.

Marko hoped that his daughter had one of her own. That's what it had appeared like when they had their brief meeting, but first impressions weren't always the most accurate.

David drew his boys' attention then with his next words, "Our guest has slept long enough. Dwayne wake him up."

-

It was eleven and still no word from her dad, she sent two more text messages one to make him even more furious with her. It should have gotten his attention, her smart mouth, or rather words in this case, always got a raise from him when nothing else would but as it didn't she got worried and sent a more normal one.

Though she didn't relay her worries she did ask him to call her.

He didn't though and given the fact that she was currently in Santa Carla she was concerned that something more sinister was going on.

At midnight she wasn't able to sit around any longer, so she went back outside to clear her head.

First with a walk around the hotel and then with a trip to the gas station that Marko had previously mentioned. It was still open but the only one there was the overly helpful young man with acne behind the counter.

She didn't stay long, between him and catching sight of the slushy machine, the brunette walked out with no plans to return there. Then she just walked and kept walking past the highway, past the shops, through the late-night partiers. Lily didn't stop walking until she arrived at the beach.

It wasn't all that familiar to her. She'd maybe been there once when she was visiting her grandma when she was very young. Lily hadn't gone to the beach the last time she'd been with her grandmother and that was really the only time that clung to memory.

Pulling her phone out of her pocket she saw no new messages, but the teen hadn't thought there'd be any, so she pocketed the phone in her back pocket and watched the ocean for a bit.

If she went to her grandmother's house would her father be there? Could she remember the way there? No, she didn't. So why dwell on it?

A few minutes passed and then without warning her Lion King hood was grabbed and pulled up over her head startling her, "So no longer a bunny but a lion instead?"

She froze, that voice was one she knew too well... a voice she never forgot.

Her throat which had been dry for an entirely different reason suddenly felt like it would be impossible to speak but she did in a whisper, "Paul..."

Instead of receiving a reply another voice continued Paul's train of thought, "Makes sense, the prey becoming the predator."

If she was tense before, now she was as rigid as a corpse, which was a horrible comparison given her company.

"...David."

Lily couldn't turn around, she didn't want to.

If she did and she saw them then it would be real.

"What no hug this time?" The words were right beside her ear she could almost feel his breath through her hoodie and was suddenly grateful to Paul for the slight protection it being up allowed her.

"If... I don't see you then you're not there. Not real."

He chuckled, "Oh Lily, you know better than that. Even if you can't see me, I'm very real."

The girl closed her eyes and wished him, them, away only to realize her grandmother had probably done the same thing many a time. But it didn't work for her... so it was pointless.

Another thought came to mind then. "David... do you have my dad?"

"Hm, I might... what would you do about it if I did?" The vampire asked curiously.

Lily opened her eyes and took a deep breath before turning to face the face of her nightmares. He looked exactly the same.

Her eyes met his and he waited patiently for her reply.

David had her dad and he wanted to know what she was going to do about it.

Lily thought about her options but never took her eyes away from his not even to acknowledge Paul off to the side also watching them closely.

It felt like a lifetime, but it was less than a minute before she came to her answer.

"David... I want to know something first and then I'll know what to do." Her words were calmer than she was currently feeling. Her thoughts were a mess and she was in utter turmoil.

If he knew that, which she was sure he did, he didn't let it show instead prompting her, "Ask away."


	6. Conversing with Vampires

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by exaigon on Fanfiction.Net

Lily stared into David's eyes. They weren't the gold that sometimes haunted her nightmares over the years. No, right now he looked just as human as she did. That was the problem, though. Neither of them were human, at least not completely human in her case.

Clearing her dry throat, the girl did her best to put her thoughts into words for the first time in years. "Back then, you used me to come back…"

"Yeah but you kinda knew that already, even back then, didn't you?" Paul was the one who spoke, even though her attention was on David.

"That wasn't a question… You're right. I did know." Lily took a deep breath before exhaling slowly, "My question is why… Why did you give me the blood?"

David raised an eyebrow. "I promised you could live forever, I kept my promise."

"That's it? It's that simple? Because you promised me?" Her words were painted with pure disbelief. To be fair, she didn't know what she had expected to be the answer.

The vampire merely shook his head, "I answered your question. Now you answer mine; why did you drink the blood?"

Lily looked away from him then as the accident briefly flashed before her eyes. The teenager willed it away, refusing to have any kind of episode in front of them. She would not appear that vulnerable to clear predators.

Her gaze made its way back to his and she answered, "I didn't want to die."

He held her stare for several seconds that seemed like an eternity before the blond nodded, "So now what?"

Lily was confused but tried not to appear like she wasn't following his line of thought. He either noticed this or simply decided to continue anyway as he approached her.

"You didn't want to die but, tell me, do you feel alive right now?" He was no longer a few feet away but directly in front of her.

Lily blinked and furrowed her eyebrows trying to concentrate on his words instead of his proximity, "You don't seem to realize that not dying and living are two different things." His tone was more thoughtful than inquisitive, "So, tell me which do you really want? To live or just not die?"

"Kinda hard to live when you're undead isn't it?" Lily did kind of get what he was telling her but she was going to do what she did best and be snarky because that was how the teenager dealt with things she didn't like.

David didn't pay her smart mouth any mind, though, unlike her dad and instead imparted more wisdom, "I only ever lived after I first died."

Why was he telling her this? What did he want? She wanted answers but instead all the half-vampire was getting was more questions.

His hand reached out, setting on her still hooded head. She froze stiffly for a moment before slowly relaxing as he rubbed her head gently and spoke again, "I think I understand you a little better now. It's not that you value others' lives or even your own humanity."

Lily tensed again as she didn't like the sound of that.

"You want to live but you're afraid to die first. The thought of your heart stopping scares you."

He wasn't wrong that that was a terrifying thought, but the other stuff about humanity and the lives of others? Clearly, he was wrong about those things; they did matter to her. Lily lurched away from him. "You're wrong."

Her tone was defiant but he didn't appear to believe her. "Your words are at odds with your eyes."

Lily glared. "What?"

"You're only saying what you think you should say, only allowing yourself to feel what you think you should but how do you really feel? Why were you so horrified that you nearly bit that woman earlier today?"

"How do you know- because she was a person not a hamburger! And I'm not about to be responsible for her death…" Lily looked away at that.

"She's going to die either way," Paul chimed in. "Does it really matter if it's a few months or years sooner?"

For the first time she turned to Paul, "Of course it matters!"

"Why?" He cocked his head to the side looking genuinely curious.

David quietly watches on.

"Because she has more time to do things."

Paul nodded but continued with his line of questioning, "And when her life is over do those things really matter?"

"…I don't know but it might to people who care about her." Lily felt less sure of her answers as this continued. Why was she arguing for the life of a stranger?

David finally cut back in asking, "Are you one of those people?"

Lily snorted, "No but-"

"Only your answer is relevant the rest is just an excuse." Paul nodded in agreement to his fellow vampire's line of thinking.

Her dark eyes closed and she decided to concede to that, "Alright, I get what you're saying. That doesn't mean I want to kill anyone."

She didn't want to see anyone die ever again.

That thought made her realize she probably had a dead body phobia; it probably had an official name but she didn't know it or care. Clearly Lily had way more issues than she was comfortable admitting. She jokingly wondered if she had a phobia of vampires since technically, they were animated dead bodies.

David's expression told her he probably knew all about her new realization as well even if he wasn't giving voice to it.

"But you do want to live?" David pulled out a cigarette from behind his ear that she hadn't even realized was there.

"Obviously." She tightened her arms around herself defensively.

"Then you have to kill." It was so matter-of-factly that she wanted to punch him.

Instead she chose the less violent option, "Will I die if I don't?"

David calmly smoked his cigarette and seemed to be ignoring her so Paul answered her question, "No, but you'll wish you were dead."

The blond paused in his enjoyment of his smoke to ask, "Do you want to kill your brother?"

"Half-brother… you know about that too?" Her response was as automatic as it was to correct her name but then she understood what this meant. There didn't seem to be anything she could hide from him.

"He smells very good, doesn't he? Children usually do, though, they're not very filling. If you don't feed you will slip up and we all know who will likely die as a result."

Lily looked queasy at the thought as David butted his cigarette on his gloved hand and continued on, "That's the heart of the problem isn't it? Whenever you think about it you recall how you almost ate your half-brother. As much as you deny him the full term brother you still can't fathom him dying it's too close to-"

"Stop it!" Lily screamed.

The girl didn't want to talk about it. The whole reason she feared death in the first place, her first trauma, was clearly still very relevant even with all the others she now had. They shouldn't even know about her little brother. How long had they known? As far back as when they were still incorporeal and she was a kid who was petrified of death…?

That thought sobered her as she was still just as afraid of it and that was her problem, the reason she was here.

Maybe even the reason her father was… her father, how'd she forget about him? Was she that self-centered that she had forgotten that David may very well have killed or was planning to off her dad? It wasn't something she wanted to admit but Lily was aware that she was massively flawed and, yes, selfish even, but she didn't want him to die.

"The people interested in grandmother's house… Let me guess it was you?"

David didn't seem to mind the change in topic. "Technically it was Dwayne. He can sound more professional, so he made the call."

That made a weird kind of sense to her. He did seem the most mature of the lot, at least from her memory.

"You knew somehow that I drank the blood, how?"

"We felt it; you're connected to us now."

Connected? What did that mean? No, it wasn't important. What was important is that it was like she thought. Once again, her actions put someone in her family in danger. Her father was likely going to die if he wasn't already dead.

Part of her didn't want to know but the brunette asked anyways, "Is my father dead?"

"Not yet…" Paul cackled.

"I don't suppose you'll let him go." It was directed at David even though Paul was the one who had answered. She knew who was in charge.

He smirked, "I don't suppose so."

"I didn't think so." Lily sighed and dropped her arms to her sides.

"So, once again, what will you do about it?"

"What can I do?" She looked out at the water feeling like nothing had been accomplished except finding out that she had more problems and liked herself even less now. Could she even be depressed? Maybe? Her mind briefly pondered if becoming a vampire could cure her of that but she decided against it.

"Giving up?" He sounded almost disappointed that she wouldn't fight him.

"No… I think I knew he was dead from the moment I left the hotel room tonight." This was true, she knew it, even if the teenager hadn't accepted it.

"That sounds like you're giving up." David tried once more. What he was hoping to gain she wasn't sure.

"I'd have to have been willing to fight for him to be giving up and, while I don't want him to die and I'd feel guilty, it's not something I'm not already used to."

"Sounds like you won't miss him," Paul joined in again out of interest in her thoughts regarding her parent.

"I've been missing who I wanted him to be for years." Lily had never said those words out loud. Somehow, she felt she should've said them sooner.

Just then a clapping sound suddenly had her turning to meet another unforgettable face; it was Dwayne. And he was holding onto her father who had tape across his mouth and looking worse for wear but still awake. The clapping wasn't Dwayne though, it was a figure to his left, the happy blond boy she met earlier.

Marko.

He had to be a vampire too if he was with them. That figured.

"Wow, A plus parenting," Marko told the beaten man, patting his shoulder in a mock comforting manner.

Lily didn't want to look into her father's judgmental eyes. Instead, she turned back to David, "Why are you doing this?"

Really, she didn't want to see him die.

"Well I thought a little family reunion was in order." He walked around her and approached her father, "Originally, I was going to spill a little bit of blood and see if I could get you to kill him."

Lily glared venomously at David for that. "And now?"

"Now… I'm thinking about trying something different."

Lily watched him warily.

Marko laughed then, "Oh, that could be fun."

"I thought so." David grinned his face dropping the human mask and becoming the face from her nightmares and apparently the stuff of her father's future ones if he lived long enough to have them by the way he was suddenly trying to flee Dwayne's grip.

Lily backed away from them only to bump into Paul who she had forgot was still behind her. "Sorry about this. You'll forgive me later right, little sister?"

She tensed but was unable to ask what she would need to forgive when arms suddenly wrapped around her waist from behind and she was airborne. At first her feet leaving the ground made her let out a startled sound. Then she recalled her brief flight, or more like float, that she had as a child and, even though this was higher, faster, and longer than that, she didn't hate it.

As the wind ruffled her hair, she knew this wasn't what Paul was asking her forgiveness for.

He was taking her somewhere and from the talking behind her the others were coming along for the ride. Part of her wanted to close her eyes and enjoy it but she knew better. She didn't trust them. Connection by blood or whatever, they weren't her friends. Not now and not then.

"Lily!" A voice called out and she turned her head to see Marko's laughing face, "Look." He pointed so she followed his finger only to see Dwayne and David tossing her father back and forth between them and Marko as they flew as if he weighed nothing and they weren't high enough up that a drop would surely kill any regular old human.

It was like his life was a game to them.

"I think he's passed out." Lily's voice wasn't very loud in the wind but it didn't need to be; they heard it.

"Aww you're right. Now it's not as fun," Marko said before grinning, "If he could've screamed it would've been even better but David said that he needed to keep the tape on."

"Trust me you didn't want to hear him. if you thought Michael was boring, don't get him started." Dwayne's voice wasn't as loud as Marko's but Lily heard the words all the same.

"Are you going to kill him?" She found herself asking David again.

"You'll see."

-

It wasn't long after that they started to descend and she looked around at her surroundings. "Where are we?"

"Home," David told her gesturing toward a very dangerous looking bridge leading into the mouth of a cave.

Before she could say anything to that something covered her eyes. "What?"

"Shh, listen what do you hear?"

Without her eyes her ears seemed to pick up on a lot of sounds, the wind rustling the trees, the ocean waves hitting the rocks but she didn't think that this was what Paul wanted her to hear.

Then she heard it.

A heartbeat.

It was loud and nearby.

It must've belonged to her father. She knew her own heart rate to be slower than his and not nearly so loud even though he was unconscious.

As if answering her thoughts, she heard her own but it was nearly drowned out by his. Then suddenly there was a loud sickening snap that had her jump. "What was that!?"

"Listen, what's missing?" David questioned.

She did as he said uneasily and then turned pale. "The heartbeat is gone."

"Exactly." Dwayne's words sounded like a compliment but Lily felt sick and weirdly grateful for the covering over her eyes. As if reading her thoughts, the blindfold was removed and there on the ground was the crumpled unmoving form of her father.

Lily quickly makes to turn away from him but Paul grabbed and steadied her, "Nope, sorry. Gotta face your fears sooner or later."

She was prevented from turning away but not from closing her eyes.

David sighed, "I had a feeling you were gonna be stubborn about it."

Paul picked her up but she hardly noticed the change, too focused on not looking or thinking about it to care that she was being moved.

A bit later Dwayne spoke directly into her ear, "It might help to remember that the unmoving dead body will never be you."

With that, she was dropped and let out a startled cry. It didn't hurt, but it did cause her to open her eyes for a moment only to see her father's dead body inches from herself. Lily made to jump back only to hit a wall. Turning, she saw no reachable exit behind her and so she had to look back in the direction of the body that was once her father.

Taking a few deep breaths, she stared around at the other walls, there was no way out. Sliding down the wall she felt herself starting to hyperventilate when a voice called down to her.

"Once you can calm down, I'll let you out." If she had any doubts that he was a monster, she didn't now that he'd just trapped her in a hole with a corpse. And not just any corpse, but her father's.

Looking up she saw David. "Let me out now!" It was supposed to sound like a demand but it was a plea and they both knew it.

"I told you what you had to do to make that happen."

Standing up unsteadily as she kept her gaze skyward, she asked shakily, "What's the point of this?" Her arms motioned downward to where she knew the body was but wasn't willing to look.

"Desensitizing. Once you can do that, the rest is easy," David spoke as if it was simple. Nothing was going to come of this except she was going to have more nightmares.

"I don't understand." She hated feeling this weak and the teenager had the urge to lash out at them for making her feel this way.

"Yes, you do." It was Marko. He'd said something before about fun. He was obviously a sadistic bastard hiding behind an innocent face. He'd never fool her again.

"Overcome your fear of the dead and live," Dwayne said and his statement earlier was making more sense but fear wasn't logical like that.

"Don't you want to stop being afraid?" Her watery eyes met Paul's at his words and she remembered him asking her to forgive him. She didn't think she would.

She didn't answer but kept looking up at them silently hoping they'd take pity and let her out of the hole. Never before had she wanted any pity but if it would free her from this pit then she'd gladly accept it.

Instead David grins, "Welcome home little sister."

Her gaze hardened as they all retreated. "If… When I overcome this, I'm gonna make you regret putting me down here!" She said it loud enough that she knew they heard her.

If Marko's laugh was anything to go by, he didn't believe her.

She'd show him.

But first Lily had to show herself and force her eyes to the ground. She wasn't sure that she could.

Hopefully, if nothing else, her vindictive streak could pull her through this.


End file.
